Box Score The York University Lions men's hockey team came back from two goals down to pull within one but was ultimately defeated by a 4-3 score by the Brock Badgers in the season opener for both teams at the Meridian Centre on Wednesday night (Oct. 5).
 
The Lions opened the scoring at 10:11 of the opening period when rookie forward Aaron Spivak (Thornhill, Ont.) scored the first goal of his career, with an assist to fellow rookie Dexter Bricker (Saskatoon, Sask.).
 
However, their lead lasted less than five minutes as the Badgers scored twice in 14 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Sammy Banga netted a power play goal just seconds before Braden Pears also found the back of the net, and Brock carried the lead into the first intermission.
 
The Badgers added another pair of goals close together in the second period, first another power play goal by Josh Timpano at 8:22 and followed by a tally by Chris Maniccia less than four minutes later.
 
The Lions got one back in the final minute of the frame on Greg Milner's (Watford, Ont.) first of the season and trailed 4-2 after two periods.
 
The Lions peppered Badgers goaltender Clint Windsor with 11 shots in the third period, and 41 overall for the game, but could not get the puck past him until there was 1:35 left on the clock when Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) scored on the power play. York pulled goaltender Mack Shields (Saskatoon, Sask.) in the final minute for the extra attacker but could not score and fell by a single goal.
 
Shields, a rookie making his first career start, made 27 saves in the loss.
 
The Lions will next travel to Waterloo, Ont., to face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday evening (Oct. 8) at 7:30pm. They will play their home opener next Friday, Oct. 14 when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues beginning at 7pm.